DoomPet

Chapter 77

Staring into the room was akin to staring at shadows layered on shadows, nothing was visible and yet everything looked like monsters.

Until one monster finally pierced the veil of blackness and stepped forwards. "So we've failed?"

Despite the crushing pain of old age tempting the man to rest he forced his robotic augmentations to make him stand and walk forwards into the room. With each movement his fresh augmentations dug into his skin, dripping blood on the floor. "Yes, but because we were fighting the wrong war. We were peasants fighting to continue the reign of our oppressor... that Khan Maykr..." he spit on the floor attempting to clean his holy mouth of such a foul word.

Suddenly the creatures hiding in the shadows swarmed forwards. Everything from Imps to Barons emerged and stared at the man before them.

The first speaker stepped farther out into the light, his four pitch black horns and red skin were illuminated, but he was no imp; he was a marauder. Everything about his presence radiated power, especially his fierce iridescent green eyes. "Hell is fractured now and we need someone to lead us, Deag Ranak."

The old priest nodded, ignoring the pain radiating throughout his body. For he could not falter among this den of wolves. "I've taken to my studies and work. I am no longer a leader or even a priest."

"But you are a coward. How come you survived the Slayer but the other priests did not?" A baron leaned forwards, but not yet out of the shadows. Her deep voice booming through the room.

"I sent a robotic decoy down to take my place. I was wise, my colleagues were idiots!" He swung his arm in defense and let out a growl, "Faking my death was one of the only good things that happened to this cause in the past three months!"

More and more demons were emerging, the shadows were pushed back by their glowing eyes. Everything was fixated on the Deag, licking their lips at the opportunity for a meal.

"I was able to crawl out from under the Khan's control long before you and study whatever I pleased. I now understand the intricacies of hell!" He hissed back at them and clutched onto his staff. The pain of moving began to cloud his vision.

"Then oh great wise one who shall lead us?" The marauder rolled his green eyes and activated his axe, swinging it towards the Deag, "We are waiting."

"Why don't you go join the swarm of demons in Nekravol! They have no leader other than their primal desires. I'm sure you'd fit right in there!" In an instant the demon's axe was inches away from his neck. He gulped and stared into the green argent energy it had been imbued with.

Demons all around the room leapt up like hungry dogs, hoping to be the first to taste his blood. They had long exhausted their supplies of pinky meat and had turned to more questionable sources so eating a man would be nothing worse than eating a brother in arms.

The baron's voice stopped them, "Stop, Devo."

The marauder looked up to the baron, immediately lowering his axe. "Why?"

"Perhaps the Deag has a point. There are no leaders in hell anymore. We could either fall in with a scummy hell lord or try and do something different." The baron stepped out into the light. Her face was lit up by the hellish light. Scars upon scars, layered what was left of her mangled face. One of her horns had been broken and grown back into two different split, mangled spikes. "Kill him and we lose the knowledge he has within his slimy delicious gooey brain."

Devo felt hesitancy in every bone of his body. He wanted to kill him and move on, but he trusted the baron with his life. She was far smarter than him. "Fine, Bell."

"Ha ha..." Bell's voice echoed around the room yet again, "Now Deag we would love to see those piles of research."

He led the horde of demons deep into his lair, hissing at them not to touch any of his artifacts. His lair was the crumbling ruins of some hell citadel, but it didn't mean they could mess it all up. Despite the crumbling exterior and interior, the true jewel of the place was the basement. A long spiral staircase led downwards into a massive library. It was like a maze and a grand open hall all at once.

"Whoa..." Devo grabbed the handrail and looked out over the grand room. It was odd to see something so beautiful and fragile in a place like hell.

A hell knight shoved him forwards, down the staircase, "Keep moving." He growled.

Devo swung around and punched the knight square in the jaw. His temper was short, nearly nonexistent. If that motherfucker dared to touch him he would carve out his heart!

Before the knight could punch him back, Bell lifted him up beyond the demon's grasp as though he was a little kitten. "Devo, behave yourself!"

He swung his arms, trying to punch his attacker, "No, he SHOVED ME FIRST!"

She rolled her eyes and tossed him back down to the hell knight so they could duke it out on the staircase. Bell ignored their petty squabble and continued walking down with Deag Ranak. Devo brutally beating someone for being pissy to him was a realitivly normal occurrence for him and most of hell's citizens to be honest. She could understand, the demon was young and hot headed with more than enough trauma and issues.

The priest huffed as the sounds of Devo punching the hell knight and the hell knight punching back filled the stairwell. Other demons filled past them as the knight smashed Devo's head into the railing, then Devo swiped his legs out from underneath him and began wailing on his face. They soon got tired and the hell knight limped off, defeated. Devo walked down and held his now bleeding nose.

Bell and the Deag were talking while all the other demons were pulling books from the bookshelves, examining them.

She turned her head towards the demon, "Are you done?"

"Yes," he grumbled and wiped away the blood on his face, it had even splashed up on his horns. He knew he needed to get a better hold on his temper, but that hell knight got what was coming to him, "What about the heaping amounts of research?"

"Oh it's here all right..." she looked around at the papers the Deag had deemed most interesting, but they were lackluster at best. Three inch thick documents detailing the composition of hell's soils, a hundred papers about the different building materials of hell through the eons with references and citations, and a guide to hell's flora. "I mean it's all very detailed, but Deag Ranak is there anything that might be of interest to us?"

The old man tapped his chin, "Well... there's a large section on governments down the third hall to the left, that might help you with your leadership issue."

She nodded, definitely interested in that. "Devo keep yourself in check while I go check that out."

"Oh I have something for him as well!" He turned around and dug through a mound of his own papers, pulling out a stack as thick as a Bell's massive fist. Thrusting them in Devo's face, he grinned, "How could I forget? You'll love this!"